Musée des Beaux Arts Choices Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (line)

Quote #1

But for him it was not an important failure; (16)

Whether or not our speaker admits it, the introduction of an evaluative term like "important" suggests that our friendly farmer might not have been oblivious to Icarus's fall. He's not like the oblivious dogs or horses. He's a human – which means he had a choice. And apparently he made a bad one.

Quote #2

the sun shone As it had to (17-18)

Here's the thing about nature: it doesn't have much of a choice. The natural world goes on. Auden emphasizes this in order to underscore that some folks (that would be us, guys) have a bit more choice than, say, the sun.